Rachmaninoff plays Prelude in C Sharp Minor 

@Lennard Nellessen i feel like Rachmaninoff knew what be was doing I believe few people can be said to know enough about music and piano to criticize Rachmaninoff Though what you said still stands

There’s no fucking way that’s happening

He wrote it when he was 19, and probably this recording is from much later age. The piece was very popular, so he must have played it hundreds of times in the meantime (it was 'demanded' as encores by the audience at his concerts). When playing pieces a lot I think a lot of musicians have a tendency to play with more liberty and variation. If we could listen to him playing it just after having composed it, it will probably sound much different. So there is probably a fairly broad bandwidth of what can be considered 'right'.

Горовиц играл некоторые пьесы лучше автора. Сам Рахманинов признавал этот факт

@@pnieuwla I like your comment, Pieter! It makes total sense. As you suggested, there probably is a big leeway as to what could be considered “right“ in performing this particular prelude. I do find Rachmaninoff’s performance to be very interesting in terms of the tempos that he takes throughout the piece.

Wooo!

A very cherished thing to listen to, wouldn't you say. Lucky to be able to listen

True?

@@kpunn2823 yeah

it's more like this recording was recorded 100 years ago

Wait, he hated this? Why?

@@WobblesandBean Apparently he had to perform it so often that he hated it

@@WobblesandBean literally everyone wanted him to play it for them and it was later renowned for being the piece he hated

@@mahyargharehdaghi9383 why not just download it on Spotify or Itunes or something?? Stupid people

@@ejmtv3 fr, can't fathom their stupidity 🤦‍♂️😤

it's always been a dream of mine to watch rachmaninoff play, glad i'm not the only one who feels the same way

It was a little past the opening, i felt the music reaching toward my Soul.

Beautiful, profound and deeply sad music.

Hearing Rach play is incredible. Wish I could hear Chopin and Liszt play.

That's a great story.

damn

@@frinpi7473 😯

thats so intersting, would love to hear more of that

I honestly was just about to say they weren’t even there then gave it a second listen... he’s so quick

He was a gigantic man with gigantic hands. I believe he was 6'6". He had an incredible reach, something like 14 notes.

@@t0mmy_train116 You are correct - I just checked it!

its only an octave though

@@owenwhite4466 no. An octave is 8 notes. Octo = 8

This is one of the best comment I've ever read

Did you say her hair doesn't look nice today

So sad ;( Your mom Is already dying. Even she Had great times for you. Thats so sad :( My mom is 41 I wish she wont die

@@shyun596 That's a stupid fucking comment you just made. Maybe stick to your native language until you can speak English without being insulting.

@@shyun596 that isn't something that should be said to someone.

I usually use my nose

@@onethegogd5783 I use my di-

@@onethegogd5783 I usually just blow with my eyes but you do you

Where did you find this sentence? I did non find nowhere...Thanks

@@charlesbaudelaire9460 wat

That’s how old he was when he composed this piece.

that is humanity for you!!!!

was probably Rachmaninov

Sacrilegious!

Other composers returning from death to dislike

It has energy, but it needs to be played slower to feel the notes ESPECIALLY in measure 46 and on, you really feel the forteissimo much MUCH better that way!!

He can play it at whatever tempo he wants. He wrote it!

Elliott Talley Dont bother wasting your energy internet arguments are pointless.

@@elliotttalley2507 He plays it the way it was intended.

@@elliotttalley2507 The arrogance of somebody criticizing a performance of Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff, telling him how he *should* have played it. Unbelievable.

Melody remains relatively constant, the message conveyed through different interpretation of the piece will change over time though

Probably was so metal

that's why I don't like the arrogant musicians and commentators that look for a 'better' performance. They make no effort to appreciate the original, attack it for God knows what reasons, and pretend they know the way to play it. It's mad! :) It's such a treasure having these recording

Liszt too don't forget

how dare you forget MOZART!

But we shouldn't mess with the sacred timeline!

I would really want to hear Liszt play, he was the most well known piano virtuoso together with Chopin, although his technical abilities were apparently better then any others. Composers like Brahms would get nervous just by seeing his hands run on the keyboard like spiders!

@@mariedagoult1 There have been rumors over the years of a cylinder recording made by Liszt in 1885 or 1886!

Don't forget 2:15 which is munching aggressively

Let alone speed, the power is immense.

It really is breathtaking.

Yeahhh like HOOOOWWWW.

I just got to that part, and all I can say is HNNNNNNG YES OMG

Liszt can

Except you should have more reverence for God who gives such a gift of talent

@@italiantraditionalcatholic2390 i dont usually comment on youtube videos, but i have to write this. God doesn't exist

Muad'dib I usually don’t comment either but I agree with you.

KellyAnn McGregor No, I just don’t personally have a reason to believe

@@muaddib9433 We all have our own beliefs...

enigma I disagree. Rachmaninov/Barton/Ravel

Some people think he is the greatest of any era. That was the result of a pole of professional pianists done several years ago.

i don’t think it’s necessary to compare different composers, i mean, they are different

@@yannaischrire7327 What is Barton’s full name? I am trying to find the composer (if they were one) but I can’t.

@@gabrol7442 I saw my comment too a few weeks ago and didn’t understand. I guess I forgot him, which makes him a not so great one

He is composer of this music. so this tempo is the right one

He's the composer so he can do whatever the F he wants. lol.

They are whining because they literally are not capable of playing like this.

@@janellegunther4142 👌

ummm...composer playing his own piece too fast??? who is the music police of Rachmaninov then??? I'd really like to know - never heard of them...hmm...wtf. crikey, please don't arrest me officer, for playing too fast!! bahahahahahahaha

Andre Karavia hè fucking composed it

@@jankruithof507 That doesn't mean he is the best- each performance is not just about the technicality but the musicality and interpretation. Rachmaninoff himself said that Horowitz was a better interpreter of his works. Whether you agree or not doesn't matter, I think this is the best performance of this piece, but it just goes to show.

Yes and Horowitz was a pretty free interpreter. Even when he changed aspects of Rachmaninoff's compositions he absolutely loved it. A lot of composers were actually much less concerned about modifications than people think.

@@criticalhippo4294 I'd be careful with that quote as it was really only applicable to certain specific works, most noticeably Concerto No.3 (the only Rachmaninoff concerto Horowitz played). He also labelled Benno Moiseiwitch (who played more of his works) his spiritual heir and after hearing Emil Gilels on the radio, sent him his Gold Medal & diploma from the Moscow Conservatory.

@@jankruithof507 look at his pfp, that says enough

Of His level no one can ever be.. only in dreams

Critical Hippo But it’s over 100 years old. They didn’t have Dolby surround back then ...

With this quality of playing I don't think audio quality even enters into it.

I'm actually very impressed by the audio quality, it's fucking good for a 100 y/o audio

Agreed

you could still convert this to midi and you'll get a better audio quality

I believe this is played from a piano roll Rachmaninoff made to be played in a player piano, so the recording isn't period.

@@jeremymozlin read the description it was recorded in 1919

Rachmaninov humorously assigned the lyrics “Oh My God!” and “Not A-Gain” to the repeated triads.

@@cpklapper source?

​@@RSS1350Rachmaninoff did record it, but he also made a piano roll. This is from the latter.

Devastation* u fucking plum

@@aldoringo439 Not everyone is a Spelling Bee winner.

@@davisatdavis1 not everyone has a cat as their profile picture 🤣🤣🤣

@@aldoringo439 you are pathetic

@@catfinder8601 *"rOofViS bRuH"*

Melviora commented this twice hahahaha

At what part?

That's true

Melviora the Moscow bells in the back :/

False rachmaninoff had no intention of this song being of the town that burnt down and that is why he grew to hate this piece because people gave it names that weren’t correct and they would always want to hear this as an encore after his concerts when he had much better work to show as an encore

Makes sense. Only they know the emotions that inspired the music. But of course the skill of any virtuoso is the emotion they themselves apply to their personal interpretation. That is the beauty of music.

it's actually the case of Schubert with his Fantasie Wanderer. It's extremely hard that he himself was complete able to play it as he wanted!

100

Not necessarily, Chopin regarded that Franz Liszt's performance of his op 10 etudes (which were also dedicated to Liszt) was the definitive performance of them

Did you know, SergeivVeseullovich Rachmaninov was a tall man and his hands were very big. Therefore, iny opinion he could focus on other things within his music. A lot of us have obstacle with length of hands whereas the did not. Just a thought to pass on

Yeah he was fortunately alive in the early days of recording

i thought he existed in like the mid 1800s 😭😭

@@MuAlexJSI was flabbergasted to learn that he was around for the beginning of WW2

Philip Chouliaras I don’t, they make rachmaninof’s performance become special

Philip Chouliaras I though wanna hear his interpretation when he just composed it

Please go study. OMG.

@@stevewallschlaeger1379 what

@@stevewallschlaeger1379 ??

you actually sight read this? Jeeeezuz!

I'd like to know where you heard this, it's not the first time I've seen someone say that in youtube comments for Rachmaninoff's work, but it's simply not true. He was quoted as saying he only wrote this because he was offered money for a few short pieces to go into an anthology of similar shorter works, and this was one of them. It's a lovely story, and I'm sure the music can be easily ascribed to those specific visuals, but it's just a myth. Nothing but rumor and speculation that somehow kept getting repeated often enough that many just automatically accepted it as fact.

Thank you for Correcting me btw , now I know the right info , thanks for the Critique . BTW I'm open to critisisms as only they can make you better

@@WobblesandBean Wait wasn't he gonna get money from his moments musicaux?? I don't think it was from this piece.

Amelia is correct and you were gracious to accept her comments too. Very nice. Yes, if you read about Rachmaninoff's life and music (Bertensson and Leyda) you will see a lot about this particular piece; basically Rachmaninoff wrote it to make some money (he was pretty poor much of the time and needed the cash) and he got pretty miffed that he was always being asked to play it when he wanted people to hear other works he had done. In fact, one woman wrote to him and made a fantastic suggestion that he had written it about someone stuck in a coffin and when asked, he said basically that "if she wants to believe that, fine by me" type of answer. So yes, he needed the money and yes, it was quite famous but to him, it was a pain to have to play it all the time for audiences. Get the book, it's been republished and it's great for getting into the mind of this extremely talented and gifted composer, pianist and conductor.

I think he was 22 when he wrote it.

@@1106gary He was 18.

@@P0PG03S Even better for my point. Thanks.

**correction: its a common misconception that he was 18 when he wrote it, he was in fact 19 but still incredibly young.**

You sure? I heard it was composed because rachmanimoff had a dream in which he saw his own funeral

Makes sense. Such an emotional piece

Congratulations!

Nice

I too never got it right

he was 17 years old when he created this masterpiece

Mr scheshi shows you don't know. Gossip and untrue

@@ChopinIsMyBestFriend 19*.

And to the op: what are you talking about? Source?

Everyone drags when playing Rach. Nearly every performance of his own pieces by himself are faster than performances today.

I scrolled down a lot of comments, didn’t find a single one criticizing the tempo.

I hadn't noticed that. In my copy of the sheet music it is a D-natural where you say, but in measure 47 where it's notated in four staffs it uses the D-sharp

He always changed the way he played this piece because he was bored of it he hated this piece because he has so many more complicated ones and this one got famous

Nice catch!!!!!

@@scoobydude606 I have a music sheet printed in the 80s and I had to ask my wife (an orchestral violist) to double check but it's there. I ran into it in the double staffing part again. I would play it sharp and flat and now I hear it in his rendering. It's sharp.

Omg... I thought I learnt that measure wrong.. lol..didn’t realise this was a thing! Now I’ve learned it both ways!

sameeee i was debating learning this first or prelude in g minor and then i decided on g minor cauze of THAT part haha

same lmao

Well be sure to tell me when you have reached Ling Ling Jokes aside all the best ❤️

Ling Ling energy

@@cherie8875 I mean rach plays it at a very fast pace compared to modern interpretations

You could too--just practice 4 hours per day for 10 years supervised by a really good teacher.

But he does. Just not quite so much as the hyper-technical pianists of the modern age do. I can hear the top line perfectly.

Edwin Mamo I think it's also fair to mention that Rach hated this piece and was known to intentionally breeze through it, especially later on in his life when this was probably recorded

He came to dislike the piece because the public wanted to hear it in every concert he played. It's not that he had an inherent dislike for the piece.